The Morpeth Carol by Timothy X Atack

9 year old Harry goes on a mysterious Christmas Eve road trip with a very unusual and very dangerous Santa.

Nine-year-old Harry lives on the edge of a housing estate in an un-named Northern town, a serious and intelligent lad with a troubled mum and dad. Late on Christmas Eve he escapes his rowing parents and ventures out into the night. and on a snow-covered precinct in between high-rises he finds what looks like a crashed sled, burning presents scattered in its wake, and mortally wounded reindeer all around. There's also a very scary looking man, gaunt, unshaven and hooded, who skulks around the crash site, finishing off the dying animals with a shotgun...

Tim Atack is a writer, musician and film-maker based in Bristol. His work has been commissioned by Paines Plough, Bristol Old Vic, BAC, Arnolfini and BBC Film Lab amongst others.

He's a founder member of the performance group Sleepdogs, and his short film All My Dreams On VHS won the audience award at NexT International Film Festival 2009 in Bucharest. His one-man show The Bullet and the Bass Trombone was recently to be seen at The Shed - the National Theatre's new space - following a nationwide tour.

In the past he has toured with the comedians Matt Lucas and David Walliams, writing the music for several of their TV and radio projects. He is currently developing a comedy series for television, Dave, Consumed By Fire with Simon Winstone and Tony Jordan at Red Planet Pictures.

CAST

Harry - Paul Copley

Young Harry - Ellis Hollins

The Man - Alun Raglan

Yvonne - Rachel Davies

Mum - Philippa Stanton

Dad - Paul Stonehouse

Policeman 1 - Matthew Watson

Policeman 2 - David Seddon 

Directed by Marc Beeby

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First broadcast: BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Drama, 10th December 2013

Type: MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, 128 kbps mp3 - 44 kHz - Joint Stereo

Duration: 45 minutes